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I solved the heat problem in my 67 van by using a Coleman catlytic heater in the back. Unfortunately on a hard turn one day the heater turned over and caught the shag carpet that was covering up the rust holes on fire. Do you know what a fire extinguisher does to shag carpet? It was a mess. Didn't matter though, a couple of months later the engine caught fire (the old number three cylinder problem) and burned the crap out of the engine compartment. Luckily the police who followed me into the parking lot to give me a ticket for pollution put out the fire with THEIR fire extinguishers. Love those VW's.

I solved the heat problem in my 67 van by using a Coleman catlytic heater in the back.

kAcknor Sez:

I had a camper version, a '64 that had a gas fire heater in the engine compartment. Smelly, smoky, but it put out heat!! ;)

My first car was a '59 Box Van. Over the years I've owned '64, 74, and a 65 Bus, and 64, 67, and '84 Beatles. Most were owned while in Germany, and the '84 was a Mexican manufactured bug I got brand new. ;) Also owned '82 and '87 Jettas.

Loved the air-cooled engines. They were easy to work on and could be modified to actually produce a bit of horsepower. Take a 1500 CC mother and advandce the timing to about 15 deg BTDC. Ran great! Enough to do 150 Km on the autobahn. However, the heads would last about 6 months, then you just take an hour or so and swap them out.

Cold driving, manually operated handheld cloth defrosters, cracked web casing, convert from 6 to 12 volt, cold 6 month start life changing in the snow, 1/2 hour engine changes, haul the growing family around Volkswagen blues.

Good memories. :)

"bISovbejbe'DI' tImer" (When in doubt, surprise them.)

Have you checked the *bang_list today?

Every one of them I ever saw had scorch marks on the back from the engine catching on fire. I never had one, but my best friend's girlfriend (now wife) in college had one. God, how he hated that thing, because he was always having to fix one thing or another on it. He said she wouldn't get rid of it because it was "cute." He wanted to push it off a cliff, which was probably the only way it could've gotten to the top of a cliff.

My first Beetle was a 67. I owned a 69 also. Had two squarebackes (powder blue and an orange one). If the Beetle is now extinct from production, when did the Squareback go out? ... And how difficult would it be to go to Mexico and buy a Beetle, then drive it back to Tennessee? (Like, what would it cost in Dollars and what import duty would be stacked on it if I was driving it or it was purchased used?